Imperfect, Misfit, Etc. (The Food Delivery Services)

[gfweb]

7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

No experience with either vendor but do they not refund the cost of any unsatisfactory produce as amazon does?  If not I see no reason other than to buy from Jeff, or from whomever is running the amazon parade these days.

 

 

They offered me credit on the next order. But there will be no next order.

[weinoo]

13 hours ago, dtremit said:

 

Indeed, without the ice pack, it could have done both — thawed before it left the warehouse, and then refrozen on the truck.

 

Or vice versa — we live in a large building, and they deliver the boxes indoors; sometimes that means they're sitting in a room temperature space for a few hours before people are home to take them up to their fridges.

 

What about this picture leads you to think it should've come up to my apartment when it was delivered?

 

 

12 hours ago, Shelby said:

Exactly why I'm not going to complain to them.  I made a really good salsa verde with the tomatillos ...all is ok.  I shouldn't have complained on here.  I can always make something with something.  I am glad for the ideas though.  Thanks everyone  

 

Of course this is the place to complain, @Shelby! Even if it all turns out well.

 

 

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

They offered me credit on the next order. But there will be no next order.

 

Oh - you set your standards too high.  Lower the bar.

[gfweb]

1 minute ago, weinoo said:

 

Oh - you set your standards too high.  Lower the bar.

 

I love the concept, but the food has to be usable, have a little shelf-life and be something I want to eat/cook.  Only half of what I got from Misfits fit those criteria. Perhaps I have a bad warehouse that supplies me as @Shelby suggested.

[blue_dolphin]

14 hours ago, Shelby said:

Exactly why I'm not going to complain to them.  I made a really good salsa verde with the tomatillos ...all is ok.  I shouldn't have complained on here.

 

As @weinoo said, this is absolutely the place to share all the good and the bad.  

 

 

I hate to complain, too, and I doubt it was the fault of the ice pack but I'd let them know the stuff arrived frozen and ask whether they have better insulated packaging to prevent that or if it would be best to just not order from them until it warms up.  If you're basing a decision not to purchase on the experience, why not give them a call or drop them an email and let them know?

 

Always loved the "No Penguins" stickers that we used to get on refrigerated shipments:

[chromedome]

I like it when companies have a little bit of fun with that sort of thing. Our local cinema chain (now owned by Cineplex) used to sprinkle things like "No personal grooming" (nail clippers inside the red circle) and "No taxidermy" (a raccoon inside the red circle) in between the usual warnings about cell phone use and talking.

[dtremit]

4 hours ago, gfweb said:

They offered me credit on the next order. But there will be no next order.

 

I think if you push back Misfits will offer a partial refund. I did, and they gave me one, on my last order (though I think my issue was with an add-on item).

[dtremit]

2 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

What about this picture leads you to think it should've come up to my apartment when it was delivered?

 

What is this magical place you live in where things come up to your apartment on their own? 🤣

 

(I gave up years ago on expecting food delivery people to walk past the front door, let alone package carriers. And we even have an elevator.)

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by dtremit (log)

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, dtremit said:

What is this magical place you live in where things come up to your apartment on their own? 🤣

Perhaps a concierge is falling down on the job. 

[kayb]

On 2/13/2021 at 8:40 AM, Shelby said:

I hate it that you and others are not happy with Misfits,  (knock on wood) I've had good results.  My box always ships from Salt Lake City, UT. 

 

5 hours ago, gfweb said:

 

I love the concept, but the food has to be usable, have a little shelf-life and be something I want to eat/cook.  Only half of what I got from Misfits fit those criteria. Perhaps I have a bad warehouse that supplies me as @Shelby suggested.

 

H'mmm. I've never had much problem with damaged/poor quality from Misfits, other than the teeny tiny sweet potatoes. I'm not sure where mine ships from. Will have to look.

[BeeZee]

Its not isolated to these market delivery services. I ordered some cookies from someone on Etsy, who was based in NY, specifically because I figured with the cold temps it was no issue. She put a freezer pack in the box. Her shipping info said nothing about freezer packs or I would have told her to skip it. The box sat on my driveway for a bit (because our worthless mail carrier couldn’t be bothered to walk 3 more feet to put it on the front porch where I would have seen it). Frozen cookies. On the plus side, another freezer pack that can be re-used.

[Shelby]

Is everyone sick of seeing my boxes lol?   I'm still just over the moon that I can get them.  Imperfect today.  Came with an ice pack enclosed in the foil bubble wrap, but not a thing was frozen (it's also a lot warmer than the below freezing highs of last week).  

 

Todays haul:

 

 

Everything seems great especially the green beans again.  I wouldn't have ordered sour cream but I was almost out and not sure if we would hit a grocery store soon (we did, but that's ok...we use sour cream a lot).  And LAMB

 

Also, I placed my Misfits order at exactly 3 when my window opens.  I don't know if it was because I was earlier than normal, but they have expanded their selection by a ton.  They even had a meat/seafood category.  Granted there were only 3 items, but I'm guessing they might be expanding that way.  More veggie and fruit options too.  MANGOS.  We will see if they are decent.  And I bought fennel.  Dunno what I'm going to do with it...never bought it before, but I'm looking forward to a new ingredient.

Edited February 20, 2021 by Shelby
Good English Matters (log)

[KennethT]

2 minutes ago, Shelby said:

  And I bought fennel.  Dunno what I'm going to do with it...never bought it before, but I'm looking forward to a new ingredient.

Shave it on a mandoline and make a salad with olive oil, salt, citrus (it's awesome with oranges and some segments) and some thin sliced red onion or shallot.

[Chris Hennes]

Our Imperfect order was cancelled last week (no surprise there, everything was cancelled last week), and delayed by a day this week. But what a haul...

 

 

The leeks are enormous, the greens look great (including the watercress, in those packages in the back), and check out this fractal beauty:

 

I've never even seen romanesco in the stores here. I'm loaded on brassicas at the moment... I hear Plenty (or maybe Six Seasons...) calling my name...

[weinoo]

7 hours ago, Chris Hennes said:

I've never even seen romanesco in the stores here.

 

One of my favorite brassicas.  It's great simply roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper.

 

I even blanched some the other night and served it, Japanese style, with a sesame/ginger/soy/mirin/dashi dressing!

 

Very lovely haul - I never let any of the giant leeks go to waste - well washed, those outer dark green leek leaves are fine for vegetable stock.

[Maison Rustique]

I am not going to order any more meat/fish/perishable from Imperfect Foods. I had an issue with pork a time or two ago. Today (and it isn't warm--it is in the 30s), the meat and fish had defrosted. That is not surprising since they are no longer putting insulation in the boxes. They put those items in a paper bag with 1 ice pack. That is not enough to keep it frozen. They are taking it all off my bill, but now I've not got the stuff to cook with that I'd planned for the weekend. I need to decide if it is worth it to even continue at all with them.

[dscheidt]

On 2/20/2021 at 3:59 PM, Shelby said:

 

 

 I bought fennel.  Dunno what I'm going to do with it...never bought it before, but I'm looking forward to a new ingredient.

 

use it in place of celery in mirepoix in hearty soups or stew. 

[chromedome]

On 2/20/2021 at 5:59 PM, Shelby said:

 And I bought fennel.  Dunno what I'm going to do with it...never bought it before, but I'm looking forward to a new ingredient.

It's wonderful when braised or slow-roasted until lightly caramelized. Try it that way with lamb. I have enjoyed it cut into small wedges and grilled, as well (you need to keep some of the root end on each wedge so they'll hold together.

Also, aside from the fennel-citrus salad mentioned above, fennel-apple-walnut is a big favorite of mine. Plain yogurt as the dressing, perhaps a smidge of honey if the apples are tart. Toast the walnuts. Garnish abundantly with chopped fennel fronds.

[lemniscate]

I have a recipe for a warm potato and bacon salad that uses fennel.  I haven't made it but it sounds pretty good.

[lemniscate]

@Shelby

I found that recipe online.  It's in a South African Braai book.  Takes a bit of time to load but I think this link should take you right to the page of the warm potato salad recipe.

[dtremit]

Imperfect Friday here — and I would just like to advise @JoNorvelleWalker not to look for limes this week. I have them all, at least by weight:

 

 

Hard to illustrate quite how big these are but hopefully the standard size can will help. The large one at center left is almost half a pound! Definitely larger than some oranges we have had recently.

 

Sadly it seems to have been an off week for Imperfect — about 1/3 of my order was missing. I suspect it was packed in two boxes and one was left on the truck. On top of that, the eggplant was pretty badly bruised, though I think I can salvage it if I work quick, and the watercress was a bit flattened. I've asked them for a shipping credit in addition to the refund so I can place an "in between" order next week; we'll see what they say.

[Shelby]

I'm stocked up with veggies for this week!  I am skipping this week...unless I see something I just cannot live without lol.

 

Misfits:

 

 

 

I copied and got myself some romanesco (did I spell that right???).    Spent a good bit of time getting everything cleaned and bagged up.

 

Imperfect:

 

 

Everything in both boxes was fresh--a couple of kiwi's got a bit beat up so I'll eat those today.  Only weird thing was the Imperfect box.  They had a mixed shredded cheese thing for sale.  Mozz, parm and something else.  Anyway, it must have sold out and in it's place they sent a container of lentil soup lol.

[weinoo]

You Romanesco is beautiful, @Shelby!

[Chris Hennes]

Well, @dtremit really did get all the limes, because there were none for me this week... but I did get some stuff:

 

The site said they had lots of leafy greens with frost damage because of the weather in TX... I don't know about any frost damage, but this is a 2600g cabbage:

 

They had to use the larger box size for our order this week, and that thing was the culprit. Fortunately, I love cabbage.

[mgaretz]

This was my Imperfect order this week.  I received lemons, limes, Italian parsley and a butternut squash that I did not order or pay for!

 

 

 

[dtremit]

Imperfect seems to have recovered from whatever blip they ran into last week. Normally we do delivery every two weeks, but after we were missing so many items I put in a small order on our "off week." I asked them for a credit equal to a shipping fee since I wasn't going to need enough to make the minimum, which they agreed to. Thankfully everything was delivered exactly as promised; they ran out of one item but told me a few days ago that it wasn't coming. (We did lose one egg to shipping discombobulation.)

 

We tried the La Boulangerie croissant bread as a splurge last week and clearly I need to find a similar recipe. We really liked it and I am not going to regularly pay $8 for it!